This April the sky has treated us tomany gorgeous sight ; sights we really need justly now , even if it ’s just to get us to maltreat outside and look up . But it ’s not done yet . The Lyrids meteor shower is among theupcoming celestial spectaclesstill to dazzle . From today until April 25 , the yearly meteor shower will streak across the sky , peak on April 21 - 22 .
The Lyrids is not the most prolific of showers , but it is consistent , with about 20 meteor per minute visible across the sky . However , every sixty years or so the shower gets a boost . The last time it happened in1982 , observers counted around 90 shoot stars per time of day at its peak .
The reason for this occasional spate is to do with the extraction of the Lyrids . These meteors are the trail of debris left byComet Thatcherin its path around the Sun . The comet spirals inwards every 415 years ( next time it will be in 2276 , so alas I recall we ’ll miss it ) but the gravitative influence of the planet pushes the wake of junk square into Earth ’s orbit every 60 years , promote the event for one time of year .
The Lyrids is one of the oldest sleep together meteor shower . Among the most unbelievable showers in history , the most impressive is thepeak of 1803 , when up to 700 meteors an hour were see raining down by a diary keeper in Richmond , Virginia . A salient event was reported in theZuo Zhuan , an ancient Chinese story chronicle , that described a Lyrids meteor exhibitioner as the " hotshot fell like rain " in 687 BCE . This meteoroid shower is even mentioned inAustralian Indigenous Astronomy .
So , where to see it and when ? The northerly cerebral hemisphere is the better place to see the event , but masses in the southern cerebral hemisphere will still get a chance to spot blast stars , ideally after midnight but more probable before dawn on April 22 , front north .
If you are n’t capable to catch this free sky show , worry not , there ’s still another great event happening this month . The planet Venus will be showing off for us at the end of this month . On April 28 , theEvening & Morning star(the ancient Greeks thought it was two freestanding stars , which of course it is neither ) will be at its burnished , so after sunset looking towards the west or look to the Orient just before daybreak . You absolutely wo n’t drop it .
Quarantine or not , if you ’ve get access to a window , garden , or front porch , you should be capable to catch sight of these beauties putting on a show . When you do , think of all the other people looking up at the same target . Self - closing off does n’t think of we are alone .
